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Wednesday, 8 May 2013

These Guys Don't Suck: Modern Vampires of the City Track-by-track Review

Now that Ivy League songsmiths Vampire Weekend’s latest LP, Modern Vampires of the City, has been released to
stream on iTunes, I thought that I’d give a brief track-by-track review of what
is easily their most accomplished and enjoyable album to date. With its agile
allusions to heavyweight pop icons like Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, and Paul
Simon, it would appear that VW are self-consciously attempting to position
themselves within the great American songwriting tradition. I don’t want to
spoil the review in advance, but it’s fair to say that they’ve nailed it.

We’re eased in gently with an understated, piano-led melody,
the crunching percussion foregrounded in the mix as so often in VW’s work. When
the chorus kicks in – all radiant, sixties-esque harmonies – we get our first
hints that VW are determined to realise the biggest, breeziest pop sound
imaginable on their latest LP.

Unbelievers

The carnivalesque organ sound instantly conjures the
influence of Dylan’s seminal Blonde on Blonde album. Indeed, VW seem to
be intentionally alluding to the grizzled elder statesman of Americana with the
titles of the album’s first two tracks, which together echo the Dylan number
‘Obviously Five Believers’, or maybe that’s pure coincidence/evidence that I
need to get out more. Despite its seemingly pessimistic lyrical slant,
bemoaning the rise of a fundamentalist strain in American Christianity, the
mood is irrepressibly festive, with its hints of folksy flute and music hall
piano.

Step

The Simon and Garfunkel vibe comes to the fore here as VW
slip into a more melancholy, yet beautifully poised, register. Ezra Koenig’s
vocals arrive as if from a distance, and the waltz-like instrumentation has a slight
reverb which gives the whole track the feeling of having been recorded in some
ghostly, abandoned NY ballroom. The enigmatic, literate lyrics emphasise VW’s
emotionally candid yet playful persona, insightfully pointing up the way in
which a pretentious yet insecure young postgrad might try to conceal his need
for emotional connection behind some hopelessly high-falutin’ allusions. Once
again, the almost hymnal chorus is sublime, most of the backing dropping away to revel in the boyish charm of Koenig’s falsetto.

Diane
Young

Kicking things up a gear, VW rolls out a modern retooling of
Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and Elvis, like some classic motor fitted with a new superpowered
engine. The irresistible melody is continuously broken down and reassembled,
drum machines and guitar seemingly short-circuiting in staccato bursts and
explosions, whilst Koenig’s voice is electronically shot up and down in pitch.
Like those 50s rock originators it borrows from, this is a song all about the
fastest rides, the most carefree people, and wildest summers, and its whiplash
speed of delivery conveys that brilliantly.

Don’t
Lie

A fairly typical VW song, with its hints of baroque
classical accompaniment and immediate, summery charm, is given extra beef by
the pumped-up percussion courtesy of drummer Chris Thomson. Proceedings take a
Caribbean twist in the last thirty seconds with the introduction of a
reggae-style guitar lick – a first indication of things to come.

Hannah
Hunt

Another album highlight. Heavy on the bass, which forms an
oceanic backdrop against which floats Koenig’s story of what appears to be some
kind of shaggy dog love affair. More than halfway in, it suddenly explodes into
all-out ballad material, as all of the band join in for a cathartic reprise of
the chorus.

Everlasting
Arms

Dominated by a blissfully warm synth track, the reggae-esque
guitar from ‘Don’t Lie’ makes a return, weaving in and out of the pattering
percussion, again giving the song a festive feel – this time something closer
to a beach party.

Finger
Back

One of the album’s more straightforward tracks, driven by
Koenig’s Beach Boys-channelling vocals, which rise and rise to the point of
euphoria, and the propulsive melody. Notably, such a well-crafted pop song that
it can even survive the moment when Koenig presumably intentionally flirts with
hipster self-parody by singing about someone falling in love ‘at the falafel
shop’.

Worship
You

On this track, VW are seemingly going for the soaring
atmospherics M83 recently attempted on Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, only I
feel that VW realise it more successfully. The brief verses are blown away like
dust in the wind by the overpowering, pulsating, synth-led choruses, which
manage to evoke drunken elation at a summer musical festival and were
presumably written precisely to be performed at such a venue.

Ya
Hey

Probably the single best track on the album, and the
greatest indication of how VW’s songwriting chops have evolved over the past
few years. Encompassing several different genres, from the Marley-esque reggae
previously hinted at, to baroque pop, and embracing both commercial accessibility with
its massive chorus, and a more experimental impulse (check the bizarre, Smurfs backing
vocals), it’s a runaway triumph.

Hudson

Perhaps the most stylistically unique and unprecedented
track in terms of VW’s back catalogue and general approach on this album.
Koenig’s vocal melody and the orchestral flourishes put one in mind of a gloomy
show-tune from a downbeat Broadway musical, but this is coupled with a martial
drumbeat and stuttering, electronica-informed production. After the upbeat 40
minutes preceding it, this much moodier piece arrives like a bank of storm
clouds covering the sun. Taken altogether it’s very intriguing, and just
another sign of the fertile directions in which VW have been able to develop a
sound that originally seemed as if it might have reached its limits on their
first two albums.

Young
Lion

Not so much of a proper song in itself as a brief coda,
Young Lion has little of the same brio and excitement as what has gone before
it, but with its dainty piano and swooning harmonies, it sounds like a final breath
of satisfied achievement. Yes, like a lot of VW’s work it edges towards coming
off as slightly smug, but, on this quite remarkable pop album at least, they’ve
earned it.